A simple TCP based chat server written in node.js

chatServer.js

// Load the TCP Library
net = require('net');

// Keep track of the chat clients
var clients = [];

// Start a TCP Server
net.createServer(function (socket) {

  // Identify this client
  socket.name = socket.remoteAddress + ":" + socket.remotePort 

  // Put this new client in the list
  clients.push(socket);

  // Send a nice welcome message and announce
  socket.write("Welcome " + socket.name + "\n");
  broadcast(socket.name + " joined the chat\n", socket);

  // Handle incoming messages from clients.
  socket.on('data', function (data) {
    broadcast(socket.name + "> " + data, socket);
  });

  // Remove the client from the list when it leaves
  socket.on('end', function () {
    clients.splice(clients.indexOf(socket), 1);
    broadcast(socket.name + " left the chat.\n");
  });
  
  // Send a message to all clients
  function broadcast(message, sender) {
    clients.forEach(function (client) {
      // Don't want to send it to sender
      if (client === sender) return;
      client.write(message);
    });
    // Log it to the server output too
    process.stdout.write(message)
  }

}).listen(5000);

// Put a friendly message on the terminal of the server.
console.log("Chat server running at port 5000\n");

This is cool, can it be re-written to use pipe() instead of listening to events?

To All those who are complaining That this code is buggy
This is only the server code
You have to write the Client code by yourself to make this run properly
Here is a simple Client Code

var net = require('net')
var client = net.connect({port : 5000},function(){
    console.log('connected to the server')
})

client.on('data',function(data){
    console.log(data.toString())
    //client.end()
})
client.write("Hello !!!!")

Also note that this code was written almost a decade ago! The node.js APIs and best practices have changed significantly since then.

Hi. I just want to open a socket that accepts tcp traffic. and when I telnet to that port I get notified ( may be console.log ). Is it even possible to telnet into a opened socket?